My blog design, you like?

I'm starting me a little, old blog soon. I guess you need one these days it seems. Made the mockup design in iWeb. I'll be doing the real thing later on - adding a leather header etc.

Hopefully I'll get it out there sometime in March. Just curious to see what people thought of the design I had in mind. Best viewed in Safari, though the drop shadow will be be present in all browsers when the actual blog is born.

Comments

I'm starting me a little, old blog soon. I guess you need one these days it seems. Made the mockup design in iWeb. I'll be doing the real thing later on - adding a leather header etc.

Hopefully I'll get it out there sometime in March. Just curious to see what people thought of the design I had in mind. Best viewed in Safari, though the drop shadow will be be present in all browsers when the actual blog is born.

It's pretty cool... only thing I'd change would be turn the "taking notes?" either white or a lighter shade of the leather strip, just for legibility's sake. Nice and simple. And you can even include Google AdWords now too, right?

It's pretty cool... only thing I'd change would be turn the "taking notes™" either white or a lighter shade of the leather strip, just for legibility's sake. Nice and simple. And you can even include Google AdWords now too, right?

Thanks Spam. Yeah well that's not leather, it's more plastic. I'll be adding a totally different leather binding top to final blog design, the font we'll likely look totally different too. I'm not doing the blog itself in iWeb, just the mock-up. And I won't be adding any ads either, not ever.

Just updated that logo - a little bit more pronounced now. Oh and the url [which I was lucky to get] will be takingnotes.net

I've been 'trying' to design a blog for a LONG time but I have an erratic mind that cannot settle on a layout etc... I've been trying to get my head round good/efficient design. I have dozens of sketches and photoshop montage mockups made from other peoples designs.

Your idea is nice and simple, I like the little sketches/ideas on the Apple keyboard too

Everything looks really good, design wise. My only "problem," and this is just semantics, is the "TM." Unless it's actually a registered trademark it's unlawful to claim it is. But ignoring the legal crap, it just looks stupid... what's the point of having it anyways?

Everything looks really good, design wise. My only "problem," and this is just semantics, is the "TM." Unless it's actually a registered trademark it's unlawful to claim it is. But ignoring the legal crap, it just looks stupid... what's the point of having it anyways?

I asked a trademark lawyer about that TM, he said I can use it. You only need to actually have a trademark if you want to use ® according to him, but not ™. I may not keep in on the final blog though, I'll think it over. "R" is the registered trademark symbol, "TM" is the trademark symbol. I'll see you in court

I asked a trademark lawyer about that TM, he said I can use it. You only need to actually have a trademark if you want to use ® according to him, but not ?. I may not keep in on the final blog though, I'll think it over. "R" is the registered trademark symbol, "TM" is the trademark symbol. I'll see you in court

I dislike the colours. Do you need three colours? Why not use that pale red for the links and for the date? The blue seems out of place, and I find the date line (and last week link) hard to read.

A bigger footer? I don't think it would be too much weight to duplicate the sidebar at the bottom in a paragraph form: "You can contact me, read the archives, etc?".

I might replace "about me" with "colophon" as well.

I prefer Helvetica Neue to regular Helvetica, but that's certainly a personal preference. I do like how you've stuck with a single font for the whole design.

Increase the headline weight? Ditch the dotted link line (people are used to headlines = links) and perhaps increase the size a touch?

I find it impossible to read the "taking notes" at the top. Can you carve it deeper/lighten it up? To fit with the notepad theme, I might even write Taking Notes on a piece of paper and scan it in for use at the top.

Finally, it looks like a fixed width design: how well does it scale on small and large screens? The image doesn't really help with that.

I dislike the colours. Do you need three colours? Why not use that pale red for the links and for the date? The blue seems out of place, and I find the date line (and last week link) hard to read.

A bigger footer? I don't think it would be too much weight to duplicate the sidebar at the bottom in a paragraph form: "You can contact me, read the archives, etc…".

I might replace "about me" with "colophon" as well.

I prefer Helvetica Neue to regular Helvetica, but that's certainly a personal preference. I do like how you've stuck with a single font for the whole design.

Increase the headline weight? Ditch the dotted link line (people are used to headlines = links) and perhaps increase the size a touch?

I find it impossible to read the "taking notes" at the top. Can you carve it deeper/lighten it up? To fit with the notepad theme, I might even write Taking Notes on a piece of paper and scan it in for use at the top.

Finally, it looks like a fixed width design: how well does it scale on small and large screens? The image doesn't really help with that.

Overall though, I like it, I just have quibbles with the details.

I understand all that. I may make things easier to read, they are faded because they aren't important though. I definitely disagree with your thinking on the blue thing, that only appears when rolled-over, all you see is the blue line normally, which doesn't stand out all that much. The blue stands out during rollover for good reason. Helvetica Neue? That's interesting. Thanks for all your feedback, and as I said that is not the final header.